Author: admin
William Butler Yeats calls the Poetry Crisis Line
James Baldwin calls the Poetry Crisis Line
Carl Reiner calls the Comedy Crisis Line
Rest in peace, Carl Reiner (March 20, 1922-June 29, 2020)
Sherman Alexie calls the Poetry Crisis Line
Today is the 48th anniversary of Furman v. Georgia, in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the arbitrary and inconsistent imposition of the death penalty violates the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments, and constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.
Read “Capital Punishment” by Sherman Alexie here.
Ani DiFranco calls the Rock & Roll Crisis Line
Jenny Joseph calls the Poetry Crisis Line
Happy anniversary to my wife, Rachel E. Young, who appears as the counselor in todays post and also served as the colorist!
Jupiter Hammon calls the Poetry Crisis Line
Jupiter Hammon (1711-1806) lived in slavery his entire life and was nevertheless the first African American poet published in North America. Read more about Jupiter Hammon’s life here.
Nikki Giovanni calls the Poetry Crisis Line
Read “The Laws of Motion” by Nikki Giovanni here.
Transcript:
Jerry (counselor): Poetry Crisis Line, what is your emergency?
Nikki Giovanni: The laws of science teach us a pound of gold weighs as much as a pound of flour
Jerry: Like When Galileo dropped them off the Leaning Tower?
Nikki: …though if dropped from any undefined height in their natural state one would reach bottom and one would fly away.
Jerry: Is that how that experiment went?
Nikki: Laws of motion tell us an inert object is more difficult to propel than an object heading the wrong direction is to turn around.
Jerry: Like a car or like a tennis ball? And you do think we can still turn it around?
Ben Jonson calls the Poetry Crisis Line
Happy 448th birthday to Ben Jonson!